Dartmouth, Harvard Coming to New Haven

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Yale men's
hockey team (12-6-3, 8-4-2), coming off a 5-3-1 January mark that
included splitting its last three conference sets, looks to begin
February with a bang as old rivals Dartmouth (6-15-0, 4-10-0) and
Harvard (5-12-3, 5-6-3) come to the Elm City with a lot at stake in
the ECAC Hockey and Ivy League standings. The No. 8 Bulldogs and
the Big Green skate at 7 pm on Friday, followed by the 4 pm
Saturday Yale-Harvard game. Both games can be seen live on
yalebulldogs.com.

TICKETS

There are no tickets of any type left for
Saturday's Harvard game. A limited number of seats are available
for Friday night. Students can pick up tickets while they last at
the Yale Bookstore.

STANDINGS

Cornell (20 points) has the top spot and a
two-point lead over Yale, Union and St. Lawrence. Harvard is eighth
and five points behind that trio while 11th-place Dartmouth has
eight points.

YALE VS DARTMOUTH

The teams have met 194 times since 1907 with Yale
having a 99-84-12 lead. The last four games at Ingalls have been
split.

YALE VS. HARVARD

Harvard's win at Boston last month increased its
series lead over Yale to 135-74-18

heading into the 228th meeting. However, the Elis
own a 43-38-12 edge in home games, including 3-0-1 over the last
four seasons.

YALE 4, DARTMOUTH 2 (at Hanover, Jan.
10)

Mark Arcobello scored two goals and Jeff Malcolm
made 29 saves as Yale won at Thompson Arena. Malcolm helped the
Blue kill off eight of nine power plays as the Elis were outshot
31-27. Jeff Anderson and Brendan Mason had the other Yale goals
against Jody O'Neill (23 saves).

HARVARD 3, YALE 2 (at Boston, Jan.
12)

Junior Ryan Carroll stopped 35 of 37 shots as
Harvard took the first meeting with Yale despite being outshot
37-22. Sean Backman and Broc Little hit the net for the Elis, who
converted just one of five man-advantages. Jeff Malcolm made 19
saves for the Blue at the Bright Hockey Center.

LAST WEEKEND AT INGALLS

For the second straight weekend the Elis won Friday
and lost Saturday and came away with two points. Brendan Mason's
two goals led the Blue to a 4-3 win over No. 18 Union on Friday.
Nick Maricic made 22 saves as the home team outshot the Dutchmen
40-25. Allen York made 22 saves in a 4-0 RPI win on Saturday. The
Engineers outshot Yale 26-22 and scored one power-play goal.

STATS LINE

Here are the per game averages for each
team and where it ranks in Division I.

YALE DARTMOUTH HARVARD

Offense

3.95 (1) 2.62 (45) 2.68 (43)

Defense

2.90 (32) 3.57 (50) 3.37 (45)

PIM

12.8 (42) 14.2 (27) 11.8 (48)

Power Play

21.4 (8) 14.0 (49) 18.4 (31)

Penalty Kill

81.5 (28) 77.6 (50) 78.8 (42)

IVY WEEKEND

This is the last of the Ingalls games featuring Ivy
League teams. Yale currently leads the Ancient Eight standings with
10 points, but Cornell is just two points back and Harvard and
Princeton are within striking (7) distance. In addition to this
weekend's games, the Elis also play at Cornell and Princeton.

BIG GREEN

Dartmouth has won two of its last three after
splitting home games last weekend with Quinnipiac (4-3 W) and
Princeton (5-3 L). The Green, whose road wins this year came at
Harvard and Union, are led offensively by junior forwards Adam
Estoclet (8-12-20) and Scott Fleming (10-8-18). Sophomore Jody
O'Neill (.890, 3.82) has all but three decisions in net.

CRIMSON

Harvard,which lost to BC at Monday's Beanpot and
plays at Brown Friday, is 3-2-1 over the last seven. Newcomer Louis
Leblanc, one of six NHL draft picks on the roster, leads the team
with 9-8-17. Freshman Conor Morrison is second with eight goals. A
pair of juniors, Kyle Richter (.900, 3.74) and Ryan Carroll (.924,
2.55), have shared the time in net.

RED LIGHT DISTRICT ON PROSPECT
STREET

Yale averages over five goals at home this season
despite the shutout by RPI last week. The Elis have 41 goals in
nine games at Ingalls Rink. The Elis lead the nation with 3.95
goals per game and have a power play that ranks eighth in Division
I at 21.4. Two Bulldogs (Sean Backman, Broc Little) are among the
top 20 in the nation in goals per game, while defenseman Tom
Dignard is second in Division I points per game for defensemen.
Yale has scored 27 power play goals and 83 overall. The 1985-86
Bulldogs own the school record for both, 59 and 160 respectively.

MASON ON LINE

Junior F Brendan Mason (6-4-10) entered the season
with six career goals and has already met that number in 21 outings
this winter. He had his first collegiate two-goal game, including
the winner, in a 4-3 win over Union on Jan. 29. Mason, classmate
Jeff Anderson (3-4-7) and sophomore Charles Brockett (0-2-2), known
as Yale's checking line, have produced nine goals and 19 points
this year. Mason had four goals and seven points in January, a goal
shy of his top (2007-08) season total.

CLASS OF ‘10

The four skaters in Yale's class of 2010 have
accumulated 132 career goals and 301 combined points over
three-plus seasons. A few other classes have produced more offense
-- all with at least two more skaters -- including 1993 (Mark
Kaufmann, James Lavish, Yannick Chiasson, Jack Duffy, Peter Allen,
Dean Malish) which had 170 goals and 431 combined points.

LINE SHIFTS

The players on the ice don't always match the
night's line sheet. Changes are frequent, but even more so last
week. The Bulldogs skated wholesale changes that included
separating Yale's active career points leaders Mark Arcobello and
Sean Backman. One of the four foward lines was the same both
nights.

Arcobello

Senior F Mark Arcobello (7-10-17) has a point in
five of the last eight games that includes four goals over the last
seven games. His top game of 2008-09 was a two-goal performance at
Dartmouth in a 4-2 win. He scored his first collegiate shorthander
to give the Blue a 1-0 lead in the second period before tallying
the winner in the third. He was a 2008-09 second-team All-America
pick after recording 17-18-35. He has 41 goals and 97 points in
three-plus seasons. He is second to Backman among active career
leaders in goals.

CLASS MIX

The current Elis are a true mix of experience. Last
weekend's lineup included six juniors, five sophomores, four
seniors and four freshmen, including a goalie. No class has been
common for any one Bulldog line or defensive pairing.

Bulldog Bites

Saturday's 4-0 loss to RPI was the first time Yale
had been shut out at home since November of 2008 against
Alabama-Huntsville (1-0)... Yale is 5-1 on Fridays this year, 6-2-2
on Saturdays. That includes 8-5-3 in night games and 4-1 during the
day... Yale's last two regular-season Saturday games are at 4 pm
including this Saturday's contest with Harvard... The three home
afternoon games slated for this winter are the most the Blue has
ever had... Yale's 22 shots on goal were a season-low and the
fewest since the Elis had 15 at Union last February in a 4-2 win...
Sean Backman and Broc Little were named among the 16 finalists for
the 2010 Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best
American-born college hockey player in New England... Chris Higgins
‘05, who had 6-8-14 in 55 games with the New York Rangers
this winter, has been traded to the Calgary Flames.

SELLOUT STRING

Saturday's crowd of 3,500 marked the fifth sellout
at Ingalls this year and the third straight. Yale had six sellouts
in 2008-09.

GEOGRAPHIC BALANCE

The Yale roster includes players from 12 different
states and three provinces. The most from a state is two
(California, Connecticut, Illinois and New Hampshire) while six
hail from Alberta, including a Calgary pair.

SHOOTERS

The Bulldogs have outshot opponents in 15 of the 21
games and are 10-2-1 in those outings. The Elis average 38 shots
and give up 26. In the first period alone the Blue has a 96-shot
advantage.

SHORTAGE

Nobody expects to score goals down a man, but the
Elis were among the best in the country at scoring shorthanded last
winter with nine. Broc Little led the country with five with Denny
Kearney grabbing two and assisting on almost every Little tally.
Sean Backman and Tom Dignard had the others in 2008-09. Little and
Mark Arcobello have Yale's only SHG this year.

Powering Play

It's been an up-and-down special teams season.
After having eight power-play goals over three games, the Elis are
now one for their last 19 over three games. The Blue managed four
PPG over the first six games of 2009-10 and were operating at just
over 11 percent efficiency. The Elis are now at 21.4 percent, which
is eighth in Division I. Yale's best day on special teams was
5-for-8 against Brown on Jan. 16, the most productive PP day since
Nov. 13, 1992 when the Blue went 5-for-7 in a 10-6 win over Colgate
at Hamilton.

Little

Junior F Broc Little (15-20-35 last year) led the
nation last year with five shorthanded tallies. He currently sits
fifth among Division I players with .71 goals per game. Little
(15-7-22) leads the Elis in goals. He has a point in all but six
games and eight multiple-point outings this season. Little's nine
game point streak to start 2009-10 is a team best.

O'NEILL

Sophomore F Brian O'Neill, who has points in 15 of
21 games and had the tying goal in the OT draw in the Badger
Showdown title game, leads the team with 24 points. He had 2-1-3 in
the win over Sacred Heart on Nov. 24 and 1-2-3 vs. Ferris State.
O'Neill's 1.14 points per game are 30th in Division I. He made the
CHN (national) and ECAC Hockey All-Rookie teams after going
12-14-26 last winter. His career numbers are 21-29-50.

Kearney FAMILY

Junior F Denny Kearney (5-13-18), who has a point
in 14 of 21 games, had two goals in the win over Quinnipiac.
Kearney, who has 22 career goals and 72 points in 89 games, was in
Colorado over the break to watch his sister, Hannah, 2005 world
champion, qualifiy for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver as a
mogul skier. As the Elis pulled into Lake Placid for practice on
Jan. 21 on the way to the North Country, Hannah was winning the
2010 Freestyle World Cup Moguls on Whiteface Mountain, just nine
miles away. Her competition day at Vancouver this month is Feb. 13,
the day Yale plays at Cornell.

FROSH

All seven members of the class of 2013 have been in
the lineup at times this year. The five frosh skaters have combined
for 58 games played with 10 goals and 37 points. Antoine Laganiere
leads the newcomers with five goals, while Andrew Miller has 16
assists and 19 points. The two goalies, Nick Maricic and Jeff
Malcolm, who have contributed a combined four assists to the
offense, own 17 of the 21 decisions and 10 of the 12 wins.

net mix

Four different Bulldogs have earned a win in net
this season: two freshmen, a junior and senior. Newcomers Nick
Maricic (2.63, .900, 5-3-2), who has started three of the last four
games, and Jeff Malcolm (2.74, .887, 5-2-0), junior Ryan Rondeau
(3.84, .880, 1-1-1) and senior Billy Blase (3 saves, 1-0-0) have
been in net. Rondeau has the top save night with 40 at Princeton.
Blase is the only Eli with a collegiate shutout. Maricic ranks 29th
nationally in GAA, 57th in save percentage.

Backman

F Sean Backman (13-9-22) has 113 points in 114
career games and is tied for fourth (Mark Kaufmann ‘93) at
Yale with 69 career goals. Backman was named to the College Hockey
News (CHN) 2009-10 Pre-Season All-America squad. Ding Palmer's 87
career goals between 1927-30 are a long way off. Backman has a
point in 14 of 21 outings this winter and is 17th in Division I
with .62 goals per game. He was second-team All-ECAC last year
after leading his team with 20 goals. Backman tallied the team's
lone hat trick of the year in a 5-0 win over Cornell that gave the
Blue the ECAC Hockey Tournament Title and made him tournament MVP.

DIGNARD

Senior D Tom Dignard (4-15-19) has 17 career goals,
which is fourth on the school charts and a dozen shy of the record
set by Dave Baseggio (29-79-108) between 1985-89. Dignard needs
five goals to catch Darcy Ryan and Ray Giroux (22) and tie for
second. He is sixth among Yale blueliners in career points with 68,
one behind Jeff Dwyer ‘04 (69) for fifth. The current Bulldog
ranks No. 2 in the nation among blueliners and 22nd overall with
1.19 points per game.

THE FUTURE

On one hand, the Bulldogs lose three of their top
five point producers (126 career goals) to graduation after the
2009-10 season. On the other hand, Yale returns seven of its top 10
point scorers and three of the four goalies next season.

Century Mark

Senior F Mark Arcobello has 118 career games
played. Most Eli seniors don't get a glimpse of triple digits until
late in their final campaigns. Teammates F Sean Backman (114) and D
Ryan Donald (110) recently followed Arcobello. All three could
break the record of 125 games shared by Jeff Hamilton ‘01 and
Jeff Hristovski ‘06. The Elis have a minimum of 14 games
left.

Captain Donald

Ryan Donald (St. Albert, ALB), a class of 2010
defenseman, is the captain of the 2009-10 Bulldogs. The 6-foot-3,
220-pound skater has already tied his career-high for goals (2) in
a season and is one shy of that mark in points (8). The
defensive-blueliner (5-18-23 career) is one of 20 NCAA hockey
candidates for the 2009-10 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. To be
eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an
NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas
of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition.
Donald is a political science major who was recognized as a member
of the ECAC All-Academic team in 2009.

CARE TO COMPARE

The 2008-09 Bulldogs enjoyed the best season in the
history of Yale hockey after starting 15-5-1 with 70 goals. The
current Bulldogs have one less win in their first 21 but have hit
the net 83 times. The Elis were 4-1 against ranked teams in the
first 21 last year, they are 5-2-1 this season.

In the Polls

Yale fell one spot to No. 8 on the USA Today/USA
Hockey Magazine national poll while dropping two to No. 8 on the
USCHO.com list this week. Yale had been No. 5 for two weeks this
year which matches the school record. The Bulldogs are 2-1-1
against top 15 teams in the current USA Today rankings and 3-2-2
vs. the USCHO's top 20. Yale is 5-2-1 against teams that were
ranked on game night. The PairWise Rankings have the Elis tied for
17th with Michigan, Union and UMass-Lowell.

On the Bench

Keith Allain ‘80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace
Head Coach of Hockey, has helped establish the Bulldogs on the
national scene since he joined the program four years ago. In
2008-09 he led Yale to the best season in the program's history. A
school-record 24 wins, Yale's first ECAC Tournament Championship
and a school-best No. 5 national ranking in late March back up that
statement. The Elis' second ECAC regular-season title, a third NCAA
Tournament appearance and an Ivy League crown confirm the status of
the 2008-09 squad. He was honored by ECAC coaches as conference
coach of the year (Tim Taylor Award) and College Hockey
News named him national coach of the year. This is Allain's
11th overall year at Yale; he spent four as a student-athlete
goalie and three as an assistant coach in the 1980s.

Allain QUOTED

"We just weren't good enough tonight in any facet
of the game," said Allain after Saturday's game with RPI. "We have
to tighten up some areas of our game. We didn't test [Allen York,
RPI goalie] him very much."

OFFENSIVE SPREAD

The junior class has contributed 31 goals this
season, the seniors have 26. The sophomores are third with 16 while
the newcomers have 10 goals.

MATURO RETIRING

Ed Maturo, in his 33rd year as Yale's Director of
Equipment Services, will be retiring at the end of the 2009-10
season. Maturo, who began working with Yale hockey teams in 1977-78
and was nicknamed "Fox" because of his silver-colored hair many
years ago, missed the 1993-94 and 2005-06 seasons to work for U.S.
Teams at the winter Olympic games. He has worked 937 Yale men's
varsity hockey games.

The Yale hockey program celebrated the
re-dedication of Ingalls Rink on Jan. 16 with a ceremonies on and
off the ice. The rink has been modernized in many ways while adding
13,000 square feet of varsity operational space. The additions
include locker rooms and space for strength & conditioning
(including skating treadmill), student-athlete study area, medical
& training, officials, video, coaches, equipment, reception
(Schley Room) and more. There are new historical displays and
concession stands and bathrooms.

BULLDOGS ON THE AIR

All Yale home games include live video and audio
streaming. All games from Ingalls can be seen live through Yale's
All Access on yalebulldogs.com. The audio is provided by WYBC
radio, and the broadcast can also be heard on either AM 1340 or on
wybc.com.

SKATE WITH THE BULLDOGS

The YUAD invites Yale hockey fans to an Ingalls Rink open skate
with the men's and women's teams from 2:15 to 3:30 on Sunday, Feb.
7. Facility tours will also be available.